Statuette of a Comic Actor: A 2,000-year-old depiction of a Roman actor letting one rip

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The ancient Romans had a soft spot for physical comedy (aka fart jokes), as exemplified by a bronze figurine of a comic actor.

a small Roman bronze statuette of a man squatting while making fart noises with his mouth
A statuette of a Roman comedic actor portraying just how much the Romans loved crude humor. (Image credit: J. Paul Getty Museum / Public Domain)
QUICK FACTS

Name: Statuette of a Comic Actor

What it is: A bronze statue

Where it is from: The Roman Empire

When it was made: Circa A.D. 1 to 125

Ancient Romans are often depicted as toga-clad or heavily armored men going about the serious business of building and running an empire. But this bronze statuette of a comic actor making fart noises while thrusting out his backside shows the Romans' sillier side.

The figurine depicts a chubby man wearing a comic mask and a bodysuit with a cross-hatch pattern. He squats, forcefully projecting his butt, which he grasps with his left hand. He sticks two fingers in the corner of his mouth, presumably to help him make a fart noise.

The bodysuit he wears is decorated with an embroidered anus as well as an enormous dangling phallus made out of cloth. This accessory was typical of actors in the Greek comedies of Aristophanes, as well as in Roman comedies, according to Mary Louise Hart, associate curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

The most successful comic poet in ancient Rome was Plautus (circa 254 to 184 B.C.), who started out working as a comic actor. Although he wrote at least 130 plays, only 21 have survived. Plautus penned many stock characters, including the bragging soldier and the old man in love. But this comic actor statuette more likely depicts a bit player rather than a key part of the cast.

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"We know from a number of statuettes that have remained that a lot of people really liked this character," Hart said. "They thought he was great fun and they wanted to have a statuette of him at home."

The Romans loved crude humor — including dirty jokes, self-mockery, absurdism and obscenities — just as much as people today do, according to the Getty Museum.

Other examples of Greek and Roman humor survive in a unique ancient joke book called Philogelos. In the fifth century A.D., someone collected 265 jokes, many of which feature "Goofus"- and "Gallant"-type figures — an unintelligent person and an overly confident one. And several include farting, such as joke 241, translated by classicist William Berg as follows:

A fool sits down next to a deaf guy and farts. The latter, noticing the smell, cries out in disgust. The fool remarks, 'Hey, you can hear alright! You're kidding me about being deaf!'

Kristina Killgrove
Kristina Killgrove
Staff writer

Kristina Killgrove is a staff writer at Live Science with a focus on archaeology and paleoanthropology news. Her articles have also appeared in venues such as Forbes, Smithsonian, and Mental Floss. Kristina holds a Ph.D. in biological anthropology and an M.A. in classical archaeology from the University of North Carolina, as well as a B.A. in Latin from the University of Virginia, and she was formerly a university professor and researcher. She has received awards from the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association for her science writing.

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